High Speed Burning via USB2.0 - Waitec FrisbyII

Summary: Writing Quality With CD-R And CD-RW Media

The writer achieved good results with five of the six discs we used for our tests. Nevertheless, we recommend that you always activate the Smartburn function. Otherwise writing quality quickly goes downhill.

The writer is rather choosy about CD-RWs. We recommend that, whenever possible, you write in DAO mode at the speed recommended for the media.

Virtually Impossible - Backup Copies Of Protected Audio CDs

Consumers are increasingly discovering that they are unable to make backup copies of their newly purchased audio CDs. Not only that, they can't even play them on their computer. The reason lies in the copy protection systems such as Key2Audio or Cactus-Datashield, designed to prevent duplication. We wanted to see if the Waitec FrisbyII was able to create backup audio CDs.

We used the following copy-protected titles:

For ripping we used the Exact Audio Copy program.

Typical structure of a copy protected CD-DA - a data track follows the audio tracks.

The only CD we were only able to rip was "Let Go". The transfer rate reached a pretty disappointing average speed of 7.1x.

EAC burst mode. Ripping, yes. But slowly.

The picture was nearly the same with all the other CD titles we tested. They were usually recognized, inasmuch as the contents of the CD were displayed correctly, but it was not possible to copy or even read the tracks with EAC.

Backup Copies of Games - No Problem, But Slow

The problems we are now seeing with audio CDs have plagued games CDs for a long time now. Most game titles come with some form of copy protection and burning a backup copy can be something of a lottery. We tested the performance of the CD writer in this discipline using two games: Comanche 4 and Serious Sam2.

The CloneCD 4.01.10 screenshot shows the drive's main capabilities.